


Trouble In The Best Way

by saltnhalo



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Single Parent Castiel, Single Parent Dean Winchester, Single Parents, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 16:17:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15004643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltnhalo/pseuds/saltnhalo
Summary: When Dean is called in to see Emma's principal about his daughter's behaviour, he's not expecting to encounter one of the most attractive guys he's ever met in Castiel Novak, the father of Emma's partner-in-crime.





	Trouble In The Best Way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KrazyK](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrazyK/gifts).



> This fic is a commission for the eternally lovely Karen, who has been so patient with me around exams and editing and complete rewrites. She asked for single dads Dean and Cas being called in to school after their daughters have been getting into mischief, and I hope I've done it justice! This fic was commissioned as part of the [DeanCas Anthology](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tarot-a-deancas-anthology-books-community#/), so go check it out!
> 
> Enjoy :)

Dean taps his foot nervously as he waits opposite the principal’s office, leaning back against the wall and trying to look calmer than he feels right now. It’s not the first time he’s been informed of his daughter’s mischief, and it surely won’t be the last, but it _is_ the first time he’s been called into the school to talk with the principal about Emma.

He’s crossing every finger and toe that he has, hoping that it’s nothing too serious—that she hasn’t managed to burn down her classroom at the young age of seven. Sometimes, he wouldn’t put it past her. Her fascination with the fireworks on the Fourth of July is always kinda worrying.

Still, she’s not a mean kid, or even a bad one. She’s just… curious. And has little regard for rules. Dean would almost be proud of how much she takes after him, in that way— _almost_ , if it weren’t for the beating that his wallet takes every time she decides that she wants to draw dinosaurs on the walls of her room, or give the neighbor’s dog a haircut.

He sighs, and lets his head fall back against the wall with a dull _thud_. The stubborn kid is never going to take any of his lectures to heart, it feels like, and _that_ inherited trait is definitely annoying to be on the receiving end of.

A door slams at the far end of the corridor, and Dean glances over at it.

There’s a guy making his way down the hallway, dressed in a boxy trench coat. His dark hair is a mess, and from the crease in his brow, he looks just as worried as Dean feels.

They make eye contact as he approaches, and Dean finds himself caught in that blue gaze for a second, until the guy look over at the closed office door, then back at Dean.

“Are you here to meet with the principal as well?” he asks, and Dean frowns. Why is this guy here too?

“Yeah…” he says, turning from his spot on the wall to face the guy and raising one eyebrow. “I got called in about my daughter. You?”

“I also got called in about my daughter.” The guy squints at him for a second, as though he’s attempting to piece together a puzzle, and then…

“You wouldn’t happen to be Emma’s father, would you?”

Well, that solves _that_ mystery.

“You must be Claire’s dad,” Dean says, breaking out into a grin. “I’ve heard a lot about her from Emma—it looks like our daughters are partners in crime.”

He sticks out his hand, and the man takes it, his eyes crinkling with the hint of a matching smile.

“I’m Dean.”

“Castiel.”

~ 

“Now, what’s the rule?”

Emma sighs, clutching her bucket of popcorn closer to her chest. “Popcorn is for eating, not for throwing,” she recites, and Dean grins. “You got that right, kiddo. Even if people are being ass— _naughty_ , and talking during the movie, you still can’t throw your food at them. Daddy paid good money for that, and he wants to get to eat it.”

His daughter has already been distracted by a new movie poster, and has wandered over to the wall, not paying her father any attention whatsoever.

Dean groans. “Come on, kiddo, we’re gonna be late!”

“Which movie are you seeing?”

The voice comes from right behind him, and Dean barely manages to smother a yelp as he spins around and comes face to face with a pair of blue eyes.

“I… um… what?” he asks unintelligently, because it’s not every day that attractive men appear from behind him with little to no warning, even if they _are_ slightly dorky dads from Emma’s school.

The corner of Castiel’s mouth ticks up into a smile, and he tilts his head. “I can only assume that you’re at the cinemas to see a movie, and since that popcorn bucket,” he gestures to where Emma is standing next to the movie poster, giggling with a blonde-haired girl, “is still at least half full, you must be on your way in. What are you seeing?”

Dean blinks dumbly at him for a few seconds—he may have been watching Cas’s lips instead of focusing on his words, so sue him. “I… we’re… The Incredibles Two,” he finally manages to get out, and clears his throat. _Pull yourself the fuck together, Winchester_.

Castiel’s small smile widens into a grin. “Ah, yes. I have to say, it’s a fantastic movie. Claire and I just saw it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.”

“It’s pretty great, right?” Dean says. His gaze shifts from Castiel to Claire, then over Cas’s shoulder. “Is it just the two of you?” he asks without thinking.

The shift in Cas’s expression is small, but it’s there in the slight downturn of his mouth and the way he looks away from Dean.

“Yes, it’s just the two of us. My partner… he passed away when Claire was young.”

 _Shit_. Dean hadn’t meant to pry at all, and it had been stupid of him not to think about the weight of his question. “I’m sorry, man,” he says quietly, shoving his excitement about Cas’s use of ‘he’ far to the back of his mind. “I kinda get it, though. Emma’s mom and I divorced a few years ago. It’s just us, too.”

Cas looks over to where Emma and Claire are talking animatedly, Claire imitating some kind of explosion, and smiles. “It’s hard, but we make a good team. I get the feeling that they’re more than a match for us sometimes,” he says wryly.

“Amen to that,” Dean sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what we did to end up with kids like those, man.”

Castiel looks back at Dean, and his smile widens. “We are either very lucky, or very _un_ lucky,” he says with a chuckle—then looks down at his watch. “What time did you say your movie was again?”

 _Shit_. “Emma, honey, c’mon!” he calls, then turns back to Cas. “Thanks, dude. It was good talking—and I’m sure I’ll see you again sometime soon, if your daughter is anything like mine.” He ruffles Emma’s hair as she skips up to his side and gives him a wide-eyed, innocent look.

Cas laughs. “Yes, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around school, Dean. Come on, Claire, let’s go.”

The two of them give Dean and Emma a little wave before they turn to head towards the entrance.

Dean watches Cas go until he disappears, then grabs Emma’s hand. She laughs as they run towards the cinema, and Dean can’t help the wide grin on his face.

~ 

“Come here often?”

Cas glances up from his phone at the sound of Dean’s voice, and he gives a fond, if somewhat exasperated smile. “I wish I didn’t have to, but unfortunately, yes, I do.”

Dean grins at him, and pushes his hands into his pockets as he takes up his usual spot beside Cas, leaning back against the wall. He would have thought, considering how often they’re called in to speak with the principal or collect their daughters, the school would invest in some chairs for them.

This way, though, the two of them leaning back against the wall, Dean gets to be almost shoulder to shoulder with Cas, so. He’s not complaining.

“Had a busy week?” he asks, as Cas slides his phone into the pocket of his slacks. He’s got Cas’s undivided attention, and it starts a fluttery kind of feeling in his chest.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Cas lets his head rest back against the wall and closes his eyes for a second. “Work has been incredibly busy, and I certainly could have done without this trip.” He slits his eyes open, then, and casts a sidelong look at Dean. The corner of his mouth curves up into a smile.

“It does mean I get to see you, though, so that makes it much more bearable.”

The fluttery feeling increases. He’s always thought that people talking about getting butterflies in their stomach were full of shit, but right now… yeah, he kinda gets it.

They’ve been doing this for a few months now: every couple of weeks, they’ll be called to the school to talk to the principal (who Dean is beginning to suspect has a soft spot for the two troublemakers, since they haven’t yet been suspended), and while they’re waiting, they talk. Get to know each other, complain about their weeks, compare notes on how to get paint out of the carpet. That kind of thing.

This week, work is kicking Cas’s ass, and Dean listens with a sympathetic ear, all the while trying not to let Castiel’s lips distract him. His crush might be getting a little out of hand—but how does he bring that up with someone he only sees every few weeks?

“I wish I could just… relax,” Cas sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face and pulling Dean back to the present. “I need to get out and do something that’s not work or chasing around after my daughter every second of the day.”

And here’s Dean’s chance, served up on a silver platter.

Except his tongue feels two sizes too big, and when he tries to reach for the words, they get stuck in his throat. Fucking hell—Cas is gorgeous and clever and way out of Dean’s league, but there’s no harm in _trying_ , right? Even if he asks Cas out and gets shot down in a ball of flame, at least he’ll _know_ , and he’ll be able to get over this stupid crush.

He takes a deep breath, and stops overthinking it.

“Did you… want to get dinner with me sometime? To… you know… relax."

Cas turns to look at him, his eyes wide and lips parted in surprise. He doesn’t say anything.

Naturally, Dean starts to panic.

“I mean, um. It doesn’t have to be dinner. We could catch a movie, or, or get drinks, or go… do…” He’s tripping over himself now, his cheeks bright red.

Castiel cuts him off, and his expression of shock softens into a smile.

“I would love to go to dinner with you, Dean.”

And just like that, all Dean’s panic fades away. It takes him a second or two to process it—because holy shit, Cas just agreed to go on a _date_ with him?—and then he grins, wide and bright.

“Awesome. That’s awesome.”

Before he can say anything else dumb—trying to form words when his cheeks are still bright red has never been his forte—someone clears their throat.

They both look over to see the principal standing in the open doorway of her office, watching them with an amused smile. Behind her, Emma and Claire peek out, giving their dads matching gap-toothed grins.

As much as Dean wishes that his fumbling attempt to ask Cas out hadn’t been witnessed… he’s just too damn happy to care.

~

“I think our daughters are up to something.” Dean leans over to Castiel’s chair, and points across the hall to where the two eleven-year-olds are sitting with their heads bowed close together. The way they keep shooting the semi-deconstructed wedding cake looks is mildly worrying.

“You might be onto something there,” Cas murmurs, just loud enough to be heard over the music, as Dean drags his chair closer and wraps an arm around his new husband’s waist. “You think we should trust them not to send tonight _too_ far off the rails?”

Photographs with the two had been interesting, to say the least, considering Claire and Emma had been their usual mischievous selves, but Dean and Castiel had been too damn happy to care. They got some good photos, and a lot of fun silly ones, and they all represent irreplaceable memories that Dean is damn well gonna cherish forever.

Apart from the silliness during photos, though, the two have been uncharacteristically well-behaved. Dean has the sneaking suspicion that they know how important today is to both their dads, considering how he’d seen Emma wiping a few tears earlier. Not that she’d ever admit it.

“I think we’re good,” he says with a smile, and presses a kiss to Cas’s cheek. “How are you feeling?”

Cas reaches for Dean’s hand and twines their fingers together. Dean is mesmerized by the glint of his silver wedding band. “My pride is still a little bruised after Gabriel’s best man speech,” he says with a chuckle, “but otherwise? Today has been perfect. I couldn’t be happier.”

Across the hall, Claire and Emma are nonchalantly making their way over to the cake. They’ve got something up their sleeve, that much is evident, but whatever they’re up to, it couldn’t possibly ruin this day.

He’s got his husband, he’s got his girls, mischievous though they may be. Life couldn’t possibly be better.

“Yeah, Cas,” he says, leaning his head against his husband’s. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this fluffy little thing, let me know with a kudos or a comment, and find me on tumblr [here](http://saltnhalo.tumblr.com) :)


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